Eleonora and Ethel Olson
Encyclopedia
Between 1905 and 1925 Eleonora and Ethel Olson were well-known figures in Scandinavian communities throughout the United States. They toured extensively in the Midwest, and their recordings on major record labels gained them a nationwide following.
The sisters were versatile performers, adept at both singing and comedy. They usually worked with a piano accompanist and presented a program of vocal works, piano solos, and comic monologues. Eleonora, a contralto, was the primary vocalist, and Ethel, a soprano, joined her for duets. Their musical repertoire ranged from recital pieces and folk songs to parlor songs
and gospel hymns
.
Eleonora and Ethel, whose parents were from Norway, portrayed the immigrant's difficulty in adapting to American life. Their story At The Movies touches on homesickness for the Old Country while The Baseball Game recounts a Norwegian woman's misadventures with the national pastime. The humor in the stories rings true because the Olson Sisters knew their subject firsthand — whether it be a meeting of the ladies' aid, a piano lesson, or a scene witnessed on a train. In The Old Sogning Woman Eleonora used the dialect of her mother's birthplace. Ethel, a native of the Logan Square
neighborhood in Chicago, set her monologue The New Bookcase in a store on Milwaukee Avenue
, one of the area's busiest commercial streets, while mentioning the locally published Skandinaven
.
A magazine article from 1924 relates how Ethel drew upon an incident in real life for her sketch A Norwegian Woman At The Telephone: "One day as a little girl Ethel visited an ice cream parlor. While there her attention was attracted to a woman who had been called to the telephone for the first time in her life. This experience occasioned considerable fright, and a very humorous conversation ensued. A couple of weeks later Ethel was performing before a large gathering in Orchestra Hall, Chicago
; being called upon for an encore, she gave the story."
The same article says of Eleonora: "It is somewhat surprising that Eleonora Olson, who speaks so many different dialects of Norway, was born in Chicago and has never been abroad. Norwegians say that her enunciation and articulation are just the same as a native's.
While on tour the Olson Sisters appeared in small town opera houses, civic halls, churches, and college auditoriums. In the summer, when warm weather made these facilities unusable, they performed in the big brown tents of the traveling Chautauqua
. Eleonora and Ethel were perennial favorites with the Chautauqua's
rural audiences; in 1915, for instance, they were booked for the entire summer season on the circuit.
An article from that same year in Sanger-Hilsen comments on their popularity: "Among the many troupes that visit us out here in the West, Eleonora Olson's takes a leading place. While the others cease operation after one or two seasons, these three ladies return invariably year after year, and one new city after the other is added to their tour. And this is as it should be; for they bring with them much joie de vivre." The article praises the musical talent of the sisters and their accompanist, and of Ethel it says: "Her Norwegian dialect stories can make even the most stiff-necked pessimist crumple with laughter."
The Olson Sisters had many important friends. Among them were the painter Herbjørn Gausta
, U.S. Senator Henrik Shipstead
and his wife and such leading families of the church as the Preuses, the Stubs, and the Korens. Their friend Annette Yde Lake was the mother of actress Ann Sothern
. After a performance on the road Eleonora and Ethel were often the overnight guests of prominent local citizens.
During their peak touring years the Olson Sisters, who then lived in Chicago, had a home away from home at Mrs. Dikka Koren's boarding house in Minneapolis. Other notable Norwegian-Americans also stayed there such as J.A.O. Preus, who was a future governor of Minnesota, and Herbjørn Gausta
. Agnes Preus, Mrs. Koren's niece, recalls that the boarders were a convivial group: "At the dinner table there were stories all the time. I can remember it was hard to eat a meal because we spent so much time laughing."
Eleonora and Ethel came from a musical family. Their brother, Jacob Alexander Bing, sang for many years with light opera companies. Their mother, Johanna, also had a fine singing voice, and the Minneapolis Daglig Tidende credited her with having instilled a love of music in her children. A witty and charming person, Johanna undoubtedly contributed to her daughters' sense of humor as well.
Eleonora Olson (1870-1946) was considerably older than her sister and had been performing for several years before starting her own company in 1909. The Eleonora Olson Concert Trio consisted of Eleonora, Ethel and their piano accompanist Alice R. Walden.
Although she had been a child prodigy, Eleonora did not become a full-time professional singer until in her thirties. She attended Chicago Musical College
for two years, but a lack of funds prevented her from continuing her musical training. A 1902 article in the St. Paul newspaper Nordvesten says this about Eleonora: "That she can sing what she sings, in the manner which she does, with only those opportunities she has had, is the best proof of her more than usual gifts . . . Until now she has unfortunately had to give up the thought of devoting herself completely to her art . . . She herself says that she has had to struggle for everything she has become."
In 1905 Eleonora joined the Skovgaard Concert Company, and for the next twenty years she actively pursued a musical career. She was frequently a guest soloist with choirs, glee clubs, and choruses and sang both sacred and secular music.
Ethel (1885-1943) also showed early promise and started her career as a reader (actress) at the age of five. She was an accomplished pianist and won a number of musical scholarships. As an adult, however, her greatest acclaim was as a comedienne.
Miss Eleonora Olson then ascended the platform and gave a vocal solo in magnificent style accompanied by Mrs. William Danforth. Miss Olson is a stately lady with a fine presence. She has a strong, brilliant mezzo soprano voice with a quality of freshness in it which greatly enhances the charm of her singing. Her vocal methods are most artistic. Her voice has the rare combination of richness and brilliance. It is a voice of wide range and even development, and her delivery is excellent. She sings with intelligence, grasping the meaning and the spirit of the song and expressing it with spontaneity. She well deserved the storming applause that followed her solo and gracefully acceded to the loud demand for an encore.
Miss Ethel Olson followed in her clever and wonderful impersonation. No mere words can do justice to this charming and talented lady and the pen can only exhaust itself in superlatives. Miss Olson is an artist in her line of work. She is the most clever and remarkable impersonator that ever appeared before an Eau Claire audience. She made a tremendous hit. Encore followed encore. The people applauded as if she had just come down from the heavenly choir. She possesses a rich dramatic voice and a charming personality. She exceeds all other impersonators that ever appeared here just as the brilliancy of the sun exceeds the twinkling of the stars."
and Lyceum
audiences with a combination of serious music and comic monologues. Although their material included Norwegian songs and stories, their programs were usually aimed at mainstream audiences. Ethel might, for instance, sing "Home, Sweet Home"
or recite James Whitcomb Riley's
"An Old Sweetheart Of Mine".
Things changed when Eleonora and Ethel began making records. On Victor
, Edison
, Brunswick
and Columbia Records
they were marketed as Norwegian-American artists, and music took a back seat to comedy. Between 1918 and 1923 the sisters recorded sixteen sides as vocalists and thirty-five sides as speakers. There were, however, only thirty unique titles: twelve songs in Norwegian, one song in English, two stories in Norwegian and fifteen stories in English. The Old Sogning Woman and Mabel's Wedding were each released as two sides of a 78 rpm disc.
In 1920 Ethel Olson recorded two monologues for Edison Records
that were paired with stories by the famed humorist Cal Stewart
. "The Chautauqua At Punkin Center" by Stewart was backed by Ethel's "Laughing Girl Has Her Picture Took." "Uncle Josh And The Sailor" by Stewart was backed by Ethel's "The Larson Kids Go Bathing".
Eleonora Olson recorded Carrie Jacobs-Bond’s
"A Perfect Day
" for Edison Records
in 1920. She also recorded Norwegian versions of three popular hymns for Victor
: Bliv Hos Mig, Mester (Abide With Me
), Jeg Trænger Dig Hver Stund (I Need Thee Every Hour) and Fanny Crosby’s
Engang Min Livstraad Briste Skal (Saved By Grace).
The Olson Sisters were originally from Chicago, but by the 1920s they and their mother were living in Minneapolis. They stopped touring in 1923 when the younger sister, Ethel, married Dr. Reuben M. Pederson. Two year later they published a book of their Norwegian dialect stories called Yust For Fun. A second edition was printed in 1929.
Eleonora and Ethel Olson are today remembered for their book and their recordings. Yust For Fun was republished in 1979 with a new introduction, photographs and biographical information. Even now the sisters’ stories are being performed before appreciative audiences.
), Slim Jim and the Vagabond Kid (Ernest and Clarence Iverson
) and the Olson Sisters (Eleonora and Ethel Olson).
The headline performer was the Swedish-born singer Anne-Charlotte Harvey. In conjunction with the festival she recorded three albums of folk tunes, emigrant ballads, hymns, waltzes and comic songs. The annual celebration and the recordings were sponsored by the non-profit Olle i Skratthult Project, whose director was the renowned ethnomusicologist Maury Bernstein. Although Harvey didn't record anything from the Olson Sisters' repertoire, she did perform Mabel’s Wedding in concert.
. The MHS Library has the 1925, 1929 and 1979 editions of Yust For Fun as well as nine 78 rpm discs recorded by the Olson Sisters. A review of the 1979 edition of Yust For Fun appeared in the Spring 1980 issue of Minnesota History magazine.
Snoose Boulevard articles
Snoose Boulevard photos at the Minnesota Historical Society
The Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings
Concert programs at the Library of Congress
Recordings at the Internet Archive
Streaming audio at the Library of Congress
PDF files
Sheet music
The sisters were versatile performers, adept at both singing and comedy. They usually worked with a piano accompanist and presented a program of vocal works, piano solos, and comic monologues. Eleonora, a contralto, was the primary vocalist, and Ethel, a soprano, joined her for duets. Their musical repertoire ranged from recital pieces and folk songs to parlor songs
Parlour music
Parlour music is a type of popular music which, as the name suggests, is intended to be performed in the parlours of middle class homes by amateur singers and pianists...
and gospel hymns
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
.
Norwegian-American entertainers
Ironically, the Olson Sisters' fame rested less on their serious musical ability than on their original Norwegian dialect stories. "Isn't it funny vit people here in America," says the woman in Mabel’s Wedding, "dey don't talk Norvegian and dey don't talk English."Eleonora and Ethel, whose parents were from Norway, portrayed the immigrant's difficulty in adapting to American life. Their story At The Movies touches on homesickness for the Old Country while The Baseball Game recounts a Norwegian woman's misadventures with the national pastime. The humor in the stories rings true because the Olson Sisters knew their subject firsthand — whether it be a meeting of the ladies' aid, a piano lesson, or a scene witnessed on a train. In The Old Sogning Woman Eleonora used the dialect of her mother's birthplace. Ethel, a native of the Logan Square
Logan Square, Chicago
Logan Square is one of the 77 city-designated community areas located on the near northwest side of the City of Chicago. The name, used here to describe the community area defined by U.S. census tracts, also applies to one of a number of smaller, more loosely defined residential neighborhoods...
neighborhood in Chicago, set her monologue The New Bookcase in a store on Milwaukee Avenue
Milwaukee Avenue (Chicago)
Milwaukee Avenue is a major diagonal street in the city of Chicago and the northern suburbs. True to its name, it once led to the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Starting with a short section at N. Canal and W. Lake Streets, it begins in earnest at the corner of N Desplaines and W. Kinzie Streets...
, one of the area's busiest commercial streets, while mentioning the locally published Skandinaven
Skandinaven
Skandinaven was a Norwegian language newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois from 1866 until 1941.-Background:Skandinaven was established by three Norwegian immigrants; John Anderson, Knud Langeland and Iver Lawson. John Anderson administered the business side of the newspaper. Iver Lawson...
.
A magazine article from 1924 relates how Ethel drew upon an incident in real life for her sketch A Norwegian Woman At The Telephone: "One day as a little girl Ethel visited an ice cream parlor. While there her attention was attracted to a woman who had been called to the telephone for the first time in her life. This experience occasioned considerable fright, and a very humorous conversation ensued. A couple of weeks later Ethel was performing before a large gathering in Orchestra Hall, Chicago
Symphony Center
Symphony Center is a music complex located at 220 South Michigan Avenue in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Sinfonietta, Symphony Center includes the 2,522-seat Orchestra Hall, which dates from 1904; Buntrock Hall, a rehearsal and...
; being called upon for an encore, she gave the story."
The same article says of Eleonora: "It is somewhat surprising that Eleonora Olson, who speaks so many different dialects of Norway, was born in Chicago and has never been abroad. Norwegians say that her enunciation and articulation are just the same as a native's.
While on tour the Olson Sisters appeared in small town opera houses, civic halls, churches, and college auditoriums. In the summer, when warm weather made these facilities unusable, they performed in the big brown tents of the traveling Chautauqua
Chautauqua
Chautauqua was an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with...
. Eleonora and Ethel were perennial favorites with the Chautauqua's
Chautauqua
Chautauqua was an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with...
rural audiences; in 1915, for instance, they were booked for the entire summer season on the circuit.
An article from that same year in Sanger-Hilsen comments on their popularity: "Among the many troupes that visit us out here in the West, Eleonora Olson's takes a leading place. While the others cease operation after one or two seasons, these three ladies return invariably year after year, and one new city after the other is added to their tour. And this is as it should be; for they bring with them much joie de vivre." The article praises the musical talent of the sisters and their accompanist, and of Ethel it says: "Her Norwegian dialect stories can make even the most stiff-necked pessimist crumple with laughter."
The Olson Sisters had many important friends. Among them were the painter Herbjørn Gausta
Herbjørn Gausta
Herbjørn Gausta also Herbjorn Gausta was an American artist who is best known for his landscapes, portraits and scenes from rural settings...
, U.S. Senator Henrik Shipstead
Henrik Shipstead
Henrik Shipstead was an American politician. He served in the United States Senate from March 4, 1923, to January 3, 1947, from the state of Minnesota in the 68th, 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd, 73rd, 74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 78th, and 79th Congresses...
and his wife and such leading families of the church as the Preuses, the Stubs, and the Korens. Their friend Annette Yde Lake was the mother of actress Ann Sothern
Ann Sothern
Ann Sothern was an American film and television actress whose career spanned six decades.-Early life and career:...
. After a performance on the road Eleonora and Ethel were often the overnight guests of prominent local citizens.
During their peak touring years the Olson Sisters, who then lived in Chicago, had a home away from home at Mrs. Dikka Koren's boarding house in Minneapolis. Other notable Norwegian-Americans also stayed there such as J.A.O. Preus, who was a future governor of Minnesota, and Herbjørn Gausta
Herbjørn Gausta
Herbjørn Gausta also Herbjorn Gausta was an American artist who is best known for his landscapes, portraits and scenes from rural settings...
. Agnes Preus, Mrs. Koren's niece, recalls that the boarders were a convivial group: "At the dinner table there were stories all the time. I can remember it was hard to eat a meal because we spent so much time laughing."
Musical roots
Eleonora Olson (1870-1946) was considerably older than her sister and had been performing for several years before starting her own company in 1909. The Eleonora Olson Concert Trio consisted of Eleonora, Ethel and their piano accompanist Alice R. Walden.
Although she had been a child prodigy, Eleonora did not become a full-time professional singer until in her thirties. She attended Chicago Musical College
Chicago Musical College
Chicago Musical College is a division of Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt UniversityIt was founded in 1867, less than four decades after the city of Chicago was incorporated...
for two years, but a lack of funds prevented her from continuing her musical training. A 1902 article in the St. Paul newspaper Nordvesten says this about Eleonora: "That she can sing what she sings, in the manner which she does, with only those opportunities she has had, is the best proof of her more than usual gifts . . . Until now she has unfortunately had to give up the thought of devoting herself completely to her art . . . She herself says that she has had to struggle for everything she has become."
In 1905 Eleonora joined the Skovgaard Concert Company, and for the next twenty years she actively pursued a musical career. She was frequently a guest soloist with choirs, glee clubs, and choruses and sang both sacred and secular music.
Ethel (1885-1943) also showed early promise and started her career as a reader (actress) at the age of five. She was an accomplished pianist and won a number of musical scholarships. As an adult, however, her greatest acclaim was as a comedienne.
Luther concert a grand success (excerpt)
"The benefit concert for Luther hospital held last night at Fournier’s Academy was without exaggeration one of the most delightful and enjoyable entertainments ever given in this city. There was an immense attendance, the largest probably ever held in that hall. Nine hundred tickets were sold and it looked as if the purchasers were all present. Every seat on the floor was filled, also the gallery and even the stairways.Miss Eleonora Olson then ascended the platform and gave a vocal solo in magnificent style accompanied by Mrs. William Danforth. Miss Olson is a stately lady with a fine presence. She has a strong, brilliant mezzo soprano voice with a quality of freshness in it which greatly enhances the charm of her singing. Her vocal methods are most artistic. Her voice has the rare combination of richness and brilliance. It is a voice of wide range and even development, and her delivery is excellent. She sings with intelligence, grasping the meaning and the spirit of the song and expressing it with spontaneity. She well deserved the storming applause that followed her solo and gracefully acceded to the loud demand for an encore.
Miss Ethel Olson followed in her clever and wonderful impersonation. No mere words can do justice to this charming and talented lady and the pen can only exhaust itself in superlatives. Miss Olson is an artist in her line of work. She is the most clever and remarkable impersonator that ever appeared before an Eau Claire audience. She made a tremendous hit. Encore followed encore. The people applauded as if she had just come down from the heavenly choir. She possesses a rich dramatic voice and a charming personality. She exceeds all other impersonators that ever appeared here just as the brilliancy of the sun exceeds the twinkling of the stars."
- — Eau Claire Leader May 14, 1908
- Fournier’s Dance Academy and Ballroom first opened in 1900 in a building that had once been an armory. In the 1950s and '60s Fournier's was a regional entertainment hot spot with Buddy HollyBuddy HollyCharles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
and other internationally known performers appearing on its stage. Fournier's closed in early 1971 and was torn down later that year.
Recording artists and authors
For nearly two decades the Olson Sisters entertained ChautauquaChautauqua
Chautauqua was an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with...
and Lyceum
Lyceum movement
The lyceum movement in the United States was a trend in architecture inspired by Aristotle's Lyceum in ancient Greece....
audiences with a combination of serious music and comic monologues. Although their material included Norwegian songs and stories, their programs were usually aimed at mainstream audiences. Ethel might, for instance, sing "Home, Sweet Home"
Home! Sweet Home!
"Home! Sweet Home!" is a song that has remained well-known for over 150 years. Adapted from American actor and dramatist John Howard Payne's 1823 opera Clari, Maid of Milan, the song's melody was composed by Englishman Sir Henry Bishop with lyrics by Payne...
or recite James Whitcomb Riley's
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the Hoosier Poet and Children's Poet for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively...
"An Old Sweetheart Of Mine".
Things changed when Eleonora and Ethel began making records. On Victor
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
, Edison
Edison Records
Edison Records was one of the earliest record labels which pioneered recorded sound and was an important player in the early recording industry.- Early phonographs before commercial mass produced records :...
, Brunswick
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
and Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
they were marketed as Norwegian-American artists, and music took a back seat to comedy. Between 1918 and 1923 the sisters recorded sixteen sides as vocalists and thirty-five sides as speakers. There were, however, only thirty unique titles: twelve songs in Norwegian, one song in English, two stories in Norwegian and fifteen stories in English. The Old Sogning Woman and Mabel's Wedding were each released as two sides of a 78 rpm disc.
Edison Records
Edison Records was one of the earliest record labels which pioneered recorded sound and was an important player in the early recording industry.- Early phonographs before commercial mass produced records :...
that were paired with stories by the famed humorist Cal Stewart
Cal Stewart
Cal Stewart was a pioneer in vaudeville and early sound recordings. He is best remembered for his comic monologues in which he played "Uncle Josh" Weathersby, a resident of a mythical New England farming town called "Punkin Center."Born in Charlotte County, Virginia in 1856, Stewart spent his...
. "The Chautauqua At Punkin Center" by Stewart was backed by Ethel's "Laughing Girl Has Her Picture Took." "Uncle Josh And The Sailor" by Stewart was backed by Ethel's "The Larson Kids Go Bathing".
Eleonora Olson recorded Carrie Jacobs-Bond’s
Carrie Jacobs-Bond
Carrie Minetta Jacobs-Bond was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter who composed some 175 pieces of popular sheet music from the 1890s through the early 1940s....
"A Perfect Day
A Perfect Day
A Perfect Day is a 2005 Lebanese film directed by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige. The soundtrack was done by the band Scrambled Eggs, Soap Kills and others.-Plot summary:...
" for Edison Records
Edison Records
Edison Records was one of the earliest record labels which pioneered recorded sound and was an important player in the early recording industry.- Early phonographs before commercial mass produced records :...
in 1920. She also recorded Norwegian versions of three popular hymns for Victor
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
: Bliv Hos Mig, Mester (Abide With Me
Abide With Me
The hymn tune most often used with this hymn is "Eventide" composed by William Henry Monk in 1861.Alternate tunes include:* "Abide with Me," Henry Lyte, 1847* "Morecambe", Frederick C...
), Jeg Trænger Dig Hver Stund (I Need Thee Every Hour) and Fanny Crosby’s
Fanny Crosby
Frances Jane Crosby , usually known as Fanny Crosby in the United States and by her married name, Frances van Alstyne, in the United Kingdom, was an American Methodist rescue mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. During her lifetime, she was well-known throughout the United States...
Engang Min Livstraad Briste Skal (Saved By Grace).
The Olson Sisters were originally from Chicago, but by the 1920s they and their mother were living in Minneapolis. They stopped touring in 1923 when the younger sister, Ethel, married Dr. Reuben M. Pederson. Two year later they published a book of their Norwegian dialect stories called Yust For Fun. A second edition was printed in 1929.
Eleonora and Ethel Olson are today remembered for their book and their recordings. Yust For Fun was republished in 1979 with a new introduction, photographs and biographical information. Even now the sisters’ stories are being performed before appreciative audiences.
The Snoose Boulevard Festival
The Snoose Boulevard Festival was held in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis from 1972 through 1977. In the late 19th century Cedar Avenue became known as “Snoose Boulevard”, a nickname often given to the main street in Scandinavian communities. The term derived from the residents’ fondness for snus (snuff), an inexpensive form of tobacco. The event, which celebrated the area’s Scandinavian past, featured the music, food, and arts of the immigrants who had once lived there. It also highlighted the careers of Olle i Skratthult (Hjalmar PetersonHjalmar Peterson
-Swedish-American entertainer:Olle i Skratthult was the stage name of Hjalmar Peterson, a Swedish-American vaudeville artist, who achieved great popularity during the 1910s and 1920s. Peterson was born February 7, 1886 in the Swedish province of Värmland. Arriving in the United States in 1906, he...
), Slim Jim and the Vagabond Kid (Ernest and Clarence Iverson
Ernest and Clarence Iverson
-Norwegian-American entertainers:Ernest and Clarence Iverson were popular radio personalities in the Midwest during the 1930s and 1940s. Ernest was known as Slim Jim. His brother Clarence was the Vagabond Kid...
) and the Olson Sisters (Eleonora and Ethel Olson).
The headline performer was the Swedish-born singer Anne-Charlotte Harvey. In conjunction with the festival she recorded three albums of folk tunes, emigrant ballads, hymns, waltzes and comic songs. The annual celebration and the recordings were sponsored by the non-profit Olle i Skratthult Project, whose director was the renowned ethnomusicologist Maury Bernstein. Although Harvey didn't record anything from the Olson Sisters' repertoire, she did perform Mabel’s Wedding in concert.
The Minnesota Historical Society
Papers including news clippings and published items, programs, recording agreements and photographs of Eleonora and Ethel Olson are available for research at The Minnesota Historical SocietyMinnesota Historical Society
The Minnesota Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849, almost a decade before statehood. The Society is named in the Minnesota...
. The MHS Library has the 1925, 1929 and 1979 editions of Yust For Fun as well as nine 78 rpm discs recorded by the Olson Sisters. A review of the 1979 edition of Yust For Fun appeared in the Spring 1980 issue of Minnesota History magazine.
External links
- The Olson Sisters at the Norwegian American Folk Music Portal.
Snoose Boulevard articles
Snoose Boulevard photos at the Minnesota Historical Society
The Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings
- Eleonora Olson as vocalist.
- Eleonora Olson as speaker.
- Ethel Olson as vocalist.
- Ethel Olson as speaker.
Concert programs at the Library of Congress
- Eleonora Olson Concert Company.
- The Olsen Sisters.
- Skovgaard and His Concert Company. (Eleonora Olson was a member.)
Recordings at the Internet Archive
- Eleonora and Ethel Olson stories. Audio files, image files and more.
- Eleonora and Ethel Olson songs. Audio files and more.
- Norwegian songs. Performed by contemporaries of the Olson Sisters.
- Snoose Boulevard artists.
Streaming audio at the Library of Congress
PDF files
- "Yust For Fun".
- "Aunt Sophronia Tabor At The Opera". Comic monologue performed by Ethel Olson in 1901. pp. 114 - 116.
- "The End Of The Task". Ethel Olson performed an excerpt from this short story in 1911. pp. 3 - 29.
- "Concordia". The Olson Sisters recorded four hymns from this 1917 collection: Bliv hos mig Mester, Engang min livstraad briste skal, Herre mitt hjerte and Jeg trænger dig hver stund.
Sheet music
- "Beloved, It Is Morn" at Indiana UniversityIndiana UniversityIndiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
. Performed by Eleonora Olson in concert. - "A Perfect Day" at Indiana UniversityIndiana UniversityIndiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
. Recorded by Eleonora Olson for Edison Records.